SunTrust Banking is the largest subsidiary of Sun Trust Banks, Inc, an American Bank holding company born out of a 1985 merger between Trust Company of Georgia and Florida’s Sun Banks, Inc. Part of Coca-Cola’s publicly traded stock was owned by the Trust Company of Georgia, hence Sun Trust came to own 48.3 million shares of Coke. As of 2006 said shares were estimated to be worth $2 billion while paying an annual dividend of $59 million. On May 15, 2007 Sun Trust unloaded 4.5 million of its Coca-Cola share holdings. Relationship between Sun Trust and Coca-Cola remains firm to date, since the original copy of the latter’s soft drink formula is kept in a safe deposit box at a Sun Trust branch in Atlanta.
SunTrust banking entails a host of services such as trust assistance, mortgage banking, credit cards, insurance, equipment leasing, asset management, mutual funds and securities underwriting. As a banking institution, it has nothing different to offer aside from the traditional convenient and safe to use electronic banking accounts, free checking accounts and other investment portfolio. Results of a contemporary research on nine major U.S. banks which includes Sun Trust revealed that, banks are already inept in differentiating themselves from their competitors. As a result, these banks are maintaining sites that are no longer useful since banking via the internet has taken more depositors into a mature stage of handling their finances.
SunTrust’s recent move in unloading its Coke shares is being deemed as a telling sign that the bank is indeed feeling the crunch. Another tell-tale indicator is the size of the company’s loan portfolio, 60% of which is exposed in real estate loans. Majority of the properties covered by these real estate loans come from geographically distressed areas like Florida and Georgia. Thus, Sun Trust’s loan losses and increasing write-offs during the past quarters no longer come as a surprise. As early as the first quarter of 2008, some banks have already rolled and staggered under the negative effects of increased loan delinquencies and foreclosure proceedings. Lack of loan collection simply means that banks have to face funding deficits and it cannot be addressed by merely counting on its deposit base.
Existing depositors are the best forms of endorsement in marketing any bank’s facilities hence they should not be overlooked in campaign strategies. Otherwise, competing banks will benefit from another bank’s unhappy client. Nonetheless, a study of posted reviews on bank’s performance including that of SunTrust Banking reveals that unsatisfied customers still out number the satisfied ones.
